Pruning in the Fall is the WORST Time
Pruning is essential for maintaining the health and beauty of your plants, but timing is crucial. While you can remove a few wild growths any time of the year, fall is generally not the best season for pruning, especially for hard pruning. Here’s why:
1. Stimulates New Growth at the Wrong Time – Pruning encourages plants to produce new growth. When you prune in the fall, this new growth can begin just before the onset of winter. Young, tender shoots are particularly vulnerable to frost and can be damaged or killed by cold weather, which weakens the plant overall.
2. Reduces Plant Hardiness – Plants need to prepare for the dormant winter period by storing energy and hardening off their tissues to withstand cold temperatures. Pruning in the fall can disrupt this process by redirecting the plant’s energy towards producing new growth instead of preparing for winter, thereby reducing its hardiness.
3. Increases Risk of Disease – Fall is a season when many fungal diseases and pests are prevalent. Fresh cuts from pruning create open wounds that provide easy access for pathogens and pests, increasing the risk of infections and infestations. During the cooler, wetter conditions of fall, diseases like canker and dieback are more likely to take hold.
Best Times to Prune
Late Winter to Early Spring – This is generally the best time to prune most plants. During this period, plants are still dormant but are just about to enter their active growing phase. For most landscape plants, this is the time for very heavy, rejuvenation pruning. Many established broadleaf evergreens, such as Holly, Ligustrum, and Loropetalum, can be cut back to stubs to reduce size and will fill in completely (but still be smaller) during the spring and summer.
Summer – Summer is the best time for the first pruning of many spring and summer flowering plants. It’s also a good time to prune many plants to control size, but you can’t prune as heavily as during late winter and spring.
Conclusion
While it might be tempting to prune in the fall when you’re cleaning up your garden for the winter, it’s usually best to wait. By pruning at the right time, you can help ensure the health and longevity of your plants, protect them from disease, and maintain the integrity of your landscape.
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